DENVER — One Denver restaurant owners says a state bill could provide relief, as more restaurants close across the city, but it would come at the expense of tipped worker wages.
House Bill 1208, also known as the Restaurant Relief Bill, would make it so restaurants are only paying out a portion of tipped workers’ paychecks, while tips make up the difference.
The measure requires local governments with a minimum wage higher than the state's minimum wage to provide a tip offset for tipped employees that is “equal to the tip offset amount described in the state constitution, which is $3.02."
Delores Tronco owns the Greenwich Denver on Larimer. Tronco argued that the bill is a solution to financial strains Denver restaurant owners currently face.
“I never would have thought that running a restaurant in Denver would be harder than in New York City,” Tronco said.
In 2021, Tronco opened the Greenwich, which brought a taste of New York City to Denver. Tronco previously owned a restaurant in New York that was forced to close during the pandemic, just 96 days after opening. Since opening up The Greenwich, Tronco has faced a significant increase in labor and operational costs, including rising energy bills and skyrocketing food prices.
Tronco believes the bill would provide some much-needed breathing room for businesses like hers, enabling them to raise the wages of back-of-house employees, such as cooks and dishwashers, who typically earn less than their tipped counterparts.
“Our back-of-house staff work just as hard, yet they make far less than our servers. This bill could help us address that disparity,” Tronco said.
The bill is not without detractors. Colorado Center on Law and Policy Income and Housing Policy Director Charles Brennan raised concerns that the bill could have negative consequences for tipped workers, particularly those in low-wage service positions.
"This bill, if passed, would result in reduced wages for some of the lowest-paid workers in the state," Brennan said. "It would force tipped workers to use a larger portion of their own tips to subsidize their wages, which could lead to significant losses for employees."
Brennan argued that many restaurant workers in Denver and surrounding areas already earn more than the state minimum wage, particularly with tips factored in, and that the bill could disproportionately impact those who are already struggling to make ends meet.
Brennan also questioned the need for such legislation, noting that the number of restaurants in Colorado has increased since the pandemic, indicating that the restaurant industry is not in a state of crisis as some have suggested.
“The data doesn’t support the narrative that labor costs are the primary issue killing the restaurant industry," Brennan explained. "In fact, restaurants have been opening at a steady pace, even post-pandemic."
The Colorado Restaurant Association(CRA) citing data from Denver's Department of Excise and Licenses(EXL), which showed that the number of licensed restaurants in Denver decreased 22% in the past three years. However, after reaching out the city, they dispute those numbers.
A spokesperson from the city's Office of the Auditor told Denver7 that the CRA's data is only based on partial information. The spokesperson said they were informed by EXL that the report, "counted only one license type."
EXL provided us with total active licenses in the restaurant industry, and they are as follows:
- July 29, 2021: 3,426
- July 28, 2022: 3,906
- August 3, 2023: 4,130
- July 25, 2024: 3,947
- February 2025: 3,938
The first hearing on the Restaurant Relief Bill is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
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